Wind Turbine Payback in Plaquemines Parish, LA
Wind turbine payback in Plaquemines Parish
No. The turbine wears out before it pays for itself.
At 30 m, the height a home turbine tower usually reaches, the wind in Plaquemines Parish, LA averages 5.81 m/s (13 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 18,300 kWh a year, worth $2,428 at LA's 13.27¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 41 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Plaquemines Parish
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Plaquemines Parish unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.6 m/s at the hub against 5.81 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,369 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,830, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 27¢/kWh, 2.1 times what LA pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.6 m/s instead of 5.81. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of LA
Plaquemines Parish is the 1,061st windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in LA is Iberia Parish at 5.86 m/s, payback 40 years.
Month by month in Plaquemines Parish
January is the strongest month here, at 7.02 m/s and about 2,306 kWh. July is the weakest, 4.06 m/s and 585 kWh, so the best month makes 3.9 times the worst. November to March brings in 56% of the year's output in Plaquemines Parish.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.02 m/s | 2,306 kWh | $306 |
| February | 6.85 m/s | 1,994 kWh | $265 |
| March | 6.57 m/s | 2,032 kWh | $270 |
| April | 6.46 m/s | 1,898 kWh | $252 |
| May | 5.41 m/s | 1,305 kWh | $173 |
| June | 4.50 m/s | 766 kWh | $102 |
| July | 4.06 m/s | 585 kWh | $78 |
| August | 4.25 m/s | 671 kWh | $89 |
| September | 5.24 m/s | 1,164 kWh | $154 |
| October | 6.06 m/s | 1,711 kWh | $227 |
| November | 6.46 m/s | 1,898 kWh | $252 |
| December | 6.90 m/s | 2,237 kWh | $297 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Plaquemines Parish averages 5.17 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.14 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.107, typical of very open, smooth ground where height adds little. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 16,519 to 20,742 kWh a year, 26% more, before counting the extra cost of the taller tower. Why tower height decides it explains the shear behind these numbers.
| Hub height | Average wind | Output | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 m | 5.57 m/s | 16,519 kWh | 46 years |
| 30 m | 5.81 m/s | 18,325 kWh | 41 years |
| 40 m | 6 m/s | 19,668 kWh | 38 years |
| 50 m | 6.14 m/s | 20,742 kWh | 36 years |
Counties around Plaquemines Parish
None of the 6 closest counties is windier than Plaquemines Parish.
- Jefferson Parish, LA: 5.56 m/s, 16,471 kWh, payback 46 years (32 mi)
- St. Bernard Parish, LA: 5.27 m/s, 14,397 kWh, payback 52 years (48 mi)
- Lafourche Parish, LA: 5.23 m/s, 14,116 kWh, payback 53 years (51 mi)
- Orleans Parish, LA: 5.08 m/s, 13,078 kWh, payback 58 years (57 mi)
- St. Charles Parish, LA: 4.7 m/s, 10,571 kWh, payback 71 years (64 mi)
- Terrebonne Parish, LA: 5.23 m/s, 14,116 kWh, payback 53 years (76 mi)
Sun versus wind in Plaquemines Parish
Plaquemines Parish gets 4.69 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,369 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,830. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.3 times. Panel output assumes an 80% system performance ratio. Wind or solar runs the same comparison for every county.
How this is worked out
Wind is NASA's Power climate record, the 2001-2025 average at 10 m and 50 m for the county's centre, carried to 30 m with this county's own measured wind shear and spread into hours with a Rayleigh distribution. The turbine is a generic 10 kW, 7 m rotor machine with 10% losses. Cost is $10,000 per kW installed with no tax credit, because the federal one ended in 2025. One county-centre number cannot see your hilltop or your tree line, so treat it as the starting point for a site survey, not a substitute. The full method and its weak spots are in how the numbers are made.